That ill-conceived duel with Alexander Hamilton has given Revolutionary War hero and prominent New York politician Aaron Burr his lasting one-line description in history books.

Now bestselling historian H.W. Brands returns to the life of Aaron Burr and finds a seldom-told perspective — Burr as a loving, devoted father. Through letters preserved over the centuries, Brands finds a new clarity to Burr’s life, and fresh context for the life Burr made for himself.

Brands’s book is called “The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr.”

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He was an ambitious politician, but also an accused murderer. He was nearly elected president, but was also put on trial for treason. He deftly avoided taking positions on controversial questions, but would have relished the role of emperor.

Aaron Burr was perhaps America’s most bizarre founding father, and is the subject of the new biography “American Emperor” by David O. Stewart.Stewart became intrigued with Burr’s life and exploits, including, apparently, an audacious scheme to divide the nascent United States and become leader of the new nation that would result.